Gender and Community Organization Leadership in the Chicago Indian Community

Straus, Anne Terry; Valentino, Debra

American Indian Quarterly, v27 n3-4 p523-532 Sum-Fall 2003

This article concerns eight decades (1920-2000) of community organization in the American Indian community in Chicago. While the trends discussed may be particular to that community or time frame, the authors expect that there are parallels in other urban Indian communities. The Chicago American Indian Center was the first urban Indian center in the country; with the Oakland Intertribal Friendship House, it served as a model for later urban Indian community organizations. Through the 1970s and early 1980s, there was a balance of men and women on the boards and staffs of community organizations. The later 1980s, however, saw an interesting shift in the presence of women in Indian community organizations. By 1990, every one of the more than fifteen existing organizations was run by a woman. While women in the Chicago Indian community have been de facto leaders throughout the history of the community, and indeed, in the very establishment of the community, they have not always occupied official positions in community organizations. The balance in official positions has shifted now towards a basic balance in gender. However, if economics and adjustment to employment and income issues contributes significantly to the regularization of leadership in terms of gender today, one must predict that men will begin, now, to disappear again from official positions of leadership in community organizations. They will return to jobs that allow them to support their families, while women once again step in to keep things going in the community. (Contains 5 notes.)